Two part container

ABSTRACT

A two part container includes an inner tray section and an outer rectangular sleeve encircling said inner tray section. A cover panel is hinged to the upper edge of one wall of said sleeve and supports at its outer end a glue flap. A notch is provided in the upper edge of the sleeve wall opposite said one wall to accommodate said glue flap so that the glue flap may be adhered to the underlying wall of said tray section. Hand hole apertures which remain normally closed are provided in the ends of the container.

United States Patent Hurley et al.

TWO PART CONTAINER Inventors: William J. Hurley, 1326 Navaho Cir., Sioux City, Iowa 51104; Thomas B. Dempster, 1512 W. Lunah, Sioux City, Iowa 51103 Filed: June 12, 1972 Appl. No.: 261,703

US. Cl. 229/23 R, 229/38, 229/44 R Int. Cl B65d 13/00 Field of Search 229/44 R, 38, 23 B, 23 R References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1943 Chambliss 229/44 R X 2/1899 Gair 229/23 A 12/1889 Osb0m.. 229/44 R 7/1962 Forrer 229/23 R X 1 Apr. 2, 1974 1,975,331 10/1934 Daller 229/23 R 2,361,597 10/1944 Buttery ..229/44RX Primary ExaminerGeorge E. Lowrance Assistant ExaminerStephen Marcus Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert M. Dunning [57] ABSTRACT A two part container includes an inner tray section and an outer rectangular sleeve encircling said inner tray section. A cover panel is hinged to the upper edge of one wall of said sleeve and supports at its outer end a glue flap. A notch is provided in the upper edge of the sleeve wall opposite said one wall to accommodate said glue flap so that the glue flap may be adhered to the underlying wall of said tray section. Hand hole apertures which remain normally closed are provided in the ends of the container,

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures TWO PART CONTAINER This invention relates to an improvement in containers and deals with a container useful in the packaging of bulk meat products such as loins and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It has been recently proposed to provide containers I in two parts to provide double wall strength. The two parts include an inner tray section including a bottom wall and hingedly connected side and end walls, and an outer sleeve encircling the side and end walls to provide added strength. The present structure comprises a two part container of this general type.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises an inner tray section including a bottom panel and side and end walls hingedly secured thereto. Flaps are hinged to the ends of the side walls and fold inwardly of the end walls to form end wall portions of'double or triple thickness depending upon whether or not the flaps overlap. The outer portion of the container comprises a rectangular sleeve which encloses the side and end walls of the inner container. End wall closure flaps are hingedly connected to the upper edges of the end walls of the enclosing sleeve. A cover panel is hinged to one of the side walls to overlie the inwardly foldedflaps on the end walls. A glue flap is hingedly connected to the end of the cover panel to hold the cover in closed position.

. A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a container of the type described in which the side wall opposite that to which the cover panel is hinged is notched along its upper-edge to expose the outer surface of the side panel of the inner tray section. Thus the glud flap actually assists in holding the two parts of the container assembled.

A further feature of the present invention lies in the fact that the glue flap is narrower than the cover panel to which it is connected, an the notch in the sleeve wall is shaPed to accommodate this glue flap. Thus the end portions of the notched wall of the sleeve extend the full height of the container to increase the stacking strength thereof.

An added feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a container of the type described in which the flaps which are hinged to the ends of the tray side panels extend in overlaping relation and are provided with registering hand hole openings. A flap is provided on the end walls of the sleeve. A hand hole is also provided in the end wall of the tray portion of the container, this hand hole including a flap hinged to the lower edge thereof which normally closes the opening. The arrangement is such that the flap in the end wall of each sleeve may be folded through the hand holes in the tray end walls and flaps and the hand hole flaps on the end walls of the tray section fold into place to normally close the openings.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the flap hinged to the end walls of the sleeve are provided with laterally extending ears which engage inwardly of the overlapping flaps of the tray portion and hold these overlapping flaps from swinging inwardly.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a closed container in readiness for shipment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the container with the cover flap in partially opened position.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view longitudinally of the container and through the center of the container.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view through the container at right angles to the section of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the tray section of the container in partially assembled position.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the blank from which the outer sleeve portion of the container is formed.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the blank from which the inner tray section of container is formed.

The container A is formed of an inner tray which is indicated in general by the letter B and an outer sleeve portion which is indicated in general by the letter C. The tray B is enclosed by the sleeve C when the container is assembled.

The tray portion B includes a bottom panel 10 foldably connected along parallel fold lines 11 to side wall portions 12. The bottom panel 10 is also connected along parallel fold lines 13 to end wall panels 14. Flaps 15 are hingedly connected to the ends of one side wall panel 12 along parallel fold lines 16 which are parallel to, and slightly offset from, the fold lines 13. Flaps 17 are foldably connected to the other side wall panel 12 along parallel fold lines 19. The fold lines 19 are substantially aligned with the fold lines 16.

The flaps 15 are provided with hand hole openings 20, and the flaps 17 are provided with hand hole openings or apertures 21. The end walls panels 14 are provided with hand hole openings 22 which are normally closed by flaps 23 foldably connected along their lower edges to the end walls 14 along parallel fold lines 24.

The outer container portion or sleeve C includes, in series, a first end wall 25, a first side wall 26, a second end wall 27 and a second side wall 29 which are connected together along parallel fold lines 30, 31 and 32 respectively. A glue flap or stitch flap 34 is connected to the end wall 25 and is glued or stitched to the end of the side wall 29 to provide a rectangular tubular sleeve.

Closure flaps 35 are hingedly secured to the upper edges of the end walls 25 and 27 along aligned fold lines 36. A top panel 37 is foldably connected to the upper edges of the side wall 26 along a fold line 39 which is substantially aligned with the fold lines 36. A glue flap 40 is hingedly connected to the end edge of the cover panel 37 along a fold line 41 which is parallel to the fold line 39. The glue flap 40 does not extend the entire length of the top panel 37, the ends 42 of the glue flap being spaced from the end edges of the top panel 37.

The upper edge of the side wall panel 29 is provided with a notch 43 which is formed to fit the contour of the glue flap 40. As a result, when the container is assembled, the glue flap 40 will substantially fill the notch 43 and will be coplanar with the side wall 29.

Hand holes 44 are formed in the end wall panels 25 and 27. The hand holes are each formed by a generally U-shaped cut line terminating at a first fold line 45. A second fold line 46 extends across the U-shaped out line intermediate the ends thereof and parallel to the first fold line 45. The portion of the hand hole beneath the fold line 46 and the base of the generally U-shaped cut line is outwardly bowed laterally to provide laterally projecting curved ears 47 which are somewhat wider than the. area between the fold lines 45 and 46.

The tray portion B of the container is formed by folding the side walls 12 upwardly into parallel relation and folding the flaps l and 17 into face contact. The end panels 14 are then folded upwardly against the flaps 17 to complete the tray. In view of the fact that the tray is enclosed by the outer sleeve, it is not necessary to adhere or staple the ends together.

The sleeve C is formed by securing the glue flap 33 to the end of the side wall 29 forming a tubular structure. The inner tray B is inserted into this rectangular sleeve and, if-desired, may be adhered thereto. As will be described, the two parts of the container may remain assembled event though not adhered in the face contact.

The container parts B and C may be locked together by forcing the flaps 50 defined by the U-shaped cut lines 44 through the registering hand hole openings 22, 20 and 21. The end portion of the hand hole flap structure which bars the laterally projecting ears 47 flexes to the extent necessary to extend through the various hand holes. As the projecting ears make this portion of the flap structure wider than the various other hand holes, once this flap structure extends through the other hand holes, the ears 47 engage the inner surface of the flap l5 and hold the structure assembled. During the operation, the flaps 23 hinged to the tray end wall panels 14 are swung unwardly in the manner illustrated in FIG. 3. However, when the flaps 50 are fully inserted into substantially horizontal position as indicated in FIG. 3, the flaps 23 will swing back toward there original position, and engage the under surfaces of the flaps 50. Thus the flaps 23 serve the double purpose of closing the hand holes unless the container is being lifted, and also holding the flaps in substantially horizontal position.

After the container has been filled, the end wall flaps 35 of the outer sleeve are folded downwardly into coplanar relation as indicated in FIG. 2 of the drawings. The cover panel 37 is then swung down and the glue v flap 40 is engaged in the slot 43. Adhesive has been applied to the inner surface of the glue flap 40 or to the outer surface of the tray side wall 12 exposed through the notch 43, so that the glue flap may engage the wall of the tray portion of the device and'assist in holding the two portions of the tray assembled. In view of the fact that the glue flap 40 substantially fills the notch 43, the side wall of the container extends on a single horizontal plane and does not project beyond the surface of the wall 29 of the sleeve. This is of importance, as when the containers are stacked in superimposed relation with one stack adjoining the next, there is always a possibility that the lower edge of projecting glue flaps will engage the top of an adjoining container to rip the glue flap from place.

In accordance with the Patent Statutes, I have described the principles of construction and operation of my invention in TWO PART CONTAINER; while I endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

We claim:

l. A container including:

an inner tray section including a rectangular bottom panel, side and end wall panels hingedly connected to the parallel side and parallel end edges of said bottom panel, and flaps hingedly connected to the end edges of said side panels,

the side and end wall panels extending upwardly from said bottom panel,

said flaps extending parallel and anjacent to said end wall panels,

an outer section including rectangularly arranged side walls and end walls connected in tubular relation snuggly encircling said side and end wall panels of said inner tray section,

a cover panel hinged to one side wall of said outer section and folded parallel to said bottom panel of said inner tray section,

a glue flap hinged to the end of said cover panel, said glue flap being narrower than said cover panel,

a notch in the other side wall of said outer section,

said notch accommodating said glue flap, and

means securing said glue flap to the surface of the side wall of said inner tray section which is inwardly of said other other side wall of said outer section.

2. The structure of claim 1 and in which the inner surfaces of the side walls of the outer section are adhered to at least the side wall panels of the inner tray section. g

3. The structure of claim 1 and in which the flaps overlap at each end of said container, and said flaps and said end wall panels at each end of said inner section include registering hand hold apertures, and including a flap foldably connected to each of said end walls of said outer section and folded through the re gistering hand hold apertures of the flaps and end wall panels inwardly thereof. 

1. A container including: an inner tray section including a rectangular bottom panel, side and end wall panels hingedly connected to the parallel side and parallel end edGes of said bottom panel, and flaps hingedly connected to the end edges of said side panels, the side and end wall panels extending upwardly from said bottom panel, said flaps extending parallel and anjacent to said end wall panels, an outer section including rectangularly arranged side walls and end walls connected in tubular relation snuggly encircling said side and end wall panels of said inner tray section, a cover panel hinged to one side wall of said outer section and folded parallel to said bottom panel of said inner tray section, a glue flap hinged to the end of said cover panel, said glue flap being narrower than said cover panel, a notch in the other side wall of said outer section, said notch accommodating said glue flap, and means securing said glue flap to the surface of the side wall of said inner tray section which is inwardly of said other other side wall of said outer section.
 2. The structure of claim 1 and in which the inner surfaces of the side walls of the outer section are adhered to at least the side wall panels of the inner tray section.
 3. The structure of claim 1 and in which the flaps overlap at each end of said container, and said flaps and said end wall panels at each end of said inner section include registering hand hold apertures, and including a flap foldably connected to each of said end walls of said outer section and folded through the registering hand hold apertures of the flaps and end wall panels inwardly thereof. 